The Enemy Of My Enemy
by Hector Flores
Summary: Neah was betrayed by his eldest brother, taken most of his power and abilities, through the musings of Fate or under the designed plan of God, Neah is reborn as the brother to a human named Mana. Through tragedy or destiny, he will become an ally of the people that once hated his family. For you see as the old saying goes The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
1. Chapter 1

This is a Man Fanfiction only.

 _AN: People will hate it and send flames as a review for this story. I know this, but I simply couldn't put off writing at least one chapter any longer._

Would I guess you would very much want to know my name? Well, that is an interesting question, for you see my name may be different if you are a friend or if you are my enemy. Considering my own family considers me a traitor and would very much like to see me dead, I will take a risk and think of you as an ally for now.

My name is Neah, and I live with my brother Mana as we travel the world doing everything we need to do in order to survive. Now the funny thing is since my older brother from my other family tried to eat my soul, well my body went through some rather unusual changes. Oh, you want to know who my brother is? The one that tried to have my soul as a snack well he is the oldest member of my family and I am one of the much-hated children of the Noah Family.

To be precise I am the fourteenth child of the Noah Family, It was said that there was only supposed to be thirteen of us, but be it fate or some other power I was born. In truth, I got along rather well with my family, all except my oldest brother, and since he is considered the leader of the family he forced the other members of our little family to try and kill me.

My family is freaky like that, you see no matter how many times each of us dies, we always come back. It's just a matter of time before our souls use the darkness in the souls of others to regrow our bodies and come back to life.

Mana was the child of the person who I ended up using the darkness in her soul to recreate my body. The only problem is that she was really a devout believer and that caused me one little problem, the metal that made up the weapon of the group that pretty much hate me and my family came to be stuck in my new body.

That made my job rather difficult to tell you the truth, the metal is something the other group calls Innocence, and they use that Innocence Metal to make weapons, and with those weapons, they pretty much break my big brother's toys, the toys he makes with the souls of the desperate, the Akuma.

Now I am getting off topic with this trip down regressed memory lane, let's get back to the story. As I was saying me and my brother Mana traveled the world to make ends meet, and we gained our daily income thanks to two little things, I could play the piano like a concert pianist, and my brother could sing like the very angels, even though he sure didn't have an angelic outlook of life.

Funny really, the hated Noah, that is me, I actually looked forward to each day and felt that each day was wonderful, then again I did die a few times so that probably is what made me appreciate life as much as I do, Mana however to him life was an endless chore, a rather badly paid and unrewarding chore to boot.

We were like night and day, I would say that it was a wonderful day to wake up and Mana would say it was another step into his own grave. Thanks to my side jobs I got plenty of exercises, and my meals consisted mostly of vegetables, grains, some fruit, and a piece of fish or chicken.

My brother, on the other hand, if it wasn't fried and some sort of alcoholic drink was not part of the meal, he would not touch it. Now that I think of it, I think Mana got called a booze hound more than a few times.

You might find that strange, how could someone so dark, depressing and with such a negative outlook on life sing the way he did, well that is one of the little mysteries of life it seems.

Now you are probably wondering if you were my enemy, which I really hope you are not, I would have a different name other that the one I used to introduce myself, well as time went by I been able to regain some of my powers, not many but some.

I used one of my abilities to convince a nice magistrate to register me under a different name, on paper I was the adopted son of Mana, which is kind of funny since he is my brother. I was registered under the name that is rather a common name, but beggars can't be picky, the name that I went by publicly is Allen, Allen Walker.

Thank goodness one of our common abilities returned to me, well another one beside the one I used on the magistrate, the ability to change our physical appearance. Let's face it if you saw what our real faces look like most people would freak out.

You see the members of the Noah family have two similar traits, one our skin is as dark as charcoal, and two each and every one of us had cross-shaped stigmata across our forehead when we were young that thing hurt so much that I could barely think straight. Come to think of it, I know at least one member of our family can't think that straight.

I would say she is unique, but some people would say she is insane, but then again we are talking about a full grown woman that loves to live in the form of a family house cat. I know that after hearing this you will agree with me she is a little bit insane.

Darn, it I keep rambling, it must be because what happened today. I went home to see how my brother Mana was doing and I found him hanging like a piece of meat at the local butcher's market. I kid you not, Mana up and hung himself on the roof of our one bedroom apartment.

Now there were not that many things I could do, I would never make an Akuma out of my brother and even if I worked up the nerve I would have to call my eldest brother by pretending to be a young boy completely drowning in my own despair, actually that wouldn't be that difficult to fake since I am not exactly that chipper after finding my only loyal relative hanging from the ceiling like a chandelier.

I guess I either let my brother rest in peace, oh who am I kidding, after committing suicide there is no way in hell that he is resting in peace. Here goes nothing, I hope my elder brother is as stupid as I remember him, or that at least he doesn't notice who I really am.

I went to the graveyard I had changed my form to my public one and it was quite a few years younger than what I normally look, I went to the grave and I thought that I would need to fake some tears, but the fact is I really loved Mana, and seeing his grave me start crying so hard that I couldn't even control it.

That is when a dark presence came down from the sky, he looked a whole lot fatter than I remembered him being, he must have really hit the old fried, and sweet foods once I was believed to be gone for good.

"Ah, don't you cry little boy, I have come as I heard you wails and cries over the sadness of losing your father. It is truly sad the way that despicable God pushes so many people so hard they commit suicide. I am called the Millennium Earl, and I want to ask you a question, do you want your father back among the living?"

I pretend to be happy to hear that Mana would be back to life, "Of course you would want your father to return to you, and I know exactly how to rescue your Father's soul from that despicable God." That is when he stretched his hand and a skeleton shaped piece of metal came out of nowhere and I knew I saw this before, it looked like one of the old jigsaw puzzles my eldest brother loved to make when we were younger.

"This is a tool to rescue you Father from wherever he is trapped and he will return to you. All you need to do is to call out to him, and he will return to you. Now let me hear you call out to your Father real loud!"

I looked at it and I knew I would regret it, **"MANA COME BACK I MISS YOU! I NEED YOU BACK WITH ME MANA! DON'T LEAVE ME ALL ALONE!"**

Sure enough, the metal skeleton began to move out of its mold, and the name MANA was clearly seen on his forehead and under that a reversed pentagram. "Allen, how could you do this to me! YOU MADE ME INTO AN AKUMA! HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME LIKE THIS ALLEN! YOU CONDEMNED ME TO A FATE WORSE THAN HELL!"

I looked at my eldest brother and I knew he would keep his end of the bargain, I really should have thought this through, "Now my precious Akuma, kill this boy and take his body as your own!" As soon as the Akuma that I made from Mana came close to me, something happened that I never expected.

My right hand was always hidden with a glove because it looked like someone had done something horrible to my hand, a metal cross seems to have been nailed as pieces into my hand and my hand skin color was always the same color as if it was covered in blood.

The second Mana or the Akuma made using Mana came close my hand transformed and before I could even know what was happening the metal claw that once was my hand began to drag me across the ground of the graveyard. Just as we got close Mana managed to injure my head and one of my eyes and my metal claw of a hand crushed him into pieces.

My eldest brother left and I felt really tired, I could barely keep my eyes open. As everything turned black I began to see the image of Mana, dressed in his old clown costume, "Neah, I know you did that to ask me why I killed myself, in truth brother I did it to be of help to you. I studied the old texts and found a way to provide you with a weapon to use against your brother's minions the Akuma."

"You would need to turn me into an Akuma, and in this form, I could place a curse on you. I have placed a curse on your eye brother when you awake you will be able to see the souls of the people who have been turned into those mass killing machines your elder brother has made. He plans to kill all humanity, the more souls you free the more of the mysteries of the realm of black and white you shall learn and the stronger your eye will become."

I looked at him and couldn't help but to cry, "I know this hurts Neah, but it is the only way I could provide you with a way to stand in the way of your elder brother's maniacal plans, please Neah if you feel any remorse for turning into one of those puppets, then do me a favor brother, save the souls of the innocent, and become that which your other family hates, become an Exorcist of the Black Order. Stop the Millennium Earl Neah, and when you do you will save the souls of countless innocent people, please Brother grant me this final request."

I looked at Mana as he slowly began to dim, "I shall grant your request Mana Walker, I guess there really was some truth in that old saying you used to say so much, The Enemy of my enemy is my friend."

I woke up in a place I have never been before, it was a shabby hotel that local prostitutes like to us, "You are a strange one kid, not only do you have an Anti-Akuma Weapon, but you also destroyed an Akuma at such a young age too. I know what I shall do, My name is Marian Cross, and I am an Exorcist of the Black Order, from today onward you shall be my student."

I looked at him and smiled, "So tell me kid what is your name? I told you mine, and it is only proper that you tell me yours."

I looked at his clothes and I looked at the tiny golden thing flying near him, "It depends if you are my friend or my enemy, so tell me Master Cross are you my friend that will keep my secrets or are you an enemy that I can't trust."

He began to laugh and looked at me with his one eye, "I must have rotten luck, my student just met me and he doesn't trust me, I must be cursed with finding such a good student. You can consider me a friend, and I only wanted to hear your name, after all, Mana told me all about you a few nights ago as we shared a bottle of liquor.

"If you are my friend my name is Neah, but I would rather you call me by the name Mana called me in public which is Allen." He slapped my back rather hard and began to laugh really hard. The breath on this guy told me he had quite a bit to drink already.

"Oh, don't sweat the details beansprout, I get the feeling we will get along rather well." I really hate the sound of that nickname he just gave me, let's hope he starts calling me by my name either the private or public one, or he will learn never to mess with the one that handles his food.


	2. Chapter 2

This is a Man Fanfiction only.

Ten years of hearing that nickname, and if you asked me what did I learn after so much time being General Marian Cross' student? Well, the answer was quite simple, money management, how to earn money, cooking, and how to gamble like a pro. His prefer methods of teaching is go to a place, get a huge debt indulging his own addictions and leave me behind to cover the bill.

As a Noah, I could have developed an even deeper hatred of humanity thanks to his teaching style, had Mana or more specifically the spirit of Mana been present to remind me of his request every time I went to sleep.

Today I woke up and found a letter addressed to someone named Kamui and a note telling me to head to the Headquarters of the Black Order. Why did he have to hit me on the head with a hammer for? I know the guy told me he rather lose a thumb than to go back, but he didn't have to hit me. To top it off, I was in India, which means thousands of miles to travel.

Oh well, no sense in complaining about what a human did. I might as well put the few of my old abilities I managed to recover to good use.

As I walked through the streets I used what I learned while training with the womanizing, drunk that was my teacher to good use. I could gamble with the best, and so I had enough money to both pays for my travel expenses and to pay my food and lodging. If my brothers and sisters could see me now, they would be so ashamed that they would either take pity on me or say that the Earl was right in betraying me, depends on who you ask.

As for travel expenses, I kept that low thanks to the fact that I knew pretty much every circus routine Mana ever did, guess it also pays off to have been a brother to such a successful circus clown. I would sometimes get a position in a traveling circus, the owner of the show and I made the deal that it was only till I reached a major capital or city so I could go back to my home.

The people in the circus were most of the time rather nice, and you never expect this but some even told me they be happy that if I became a permanent member of their circus group. It was rather embarrassing at times I do have to admit, I lost count on how many men that do the strong man routine in these circuses actually hit on me.

After a long trip I finally made it to a rather large city, "Oh, Allen do you have to leave? I mean everyone loves your routine after all." I looked at the man in charge and smile, "Afraid so chief, I got to get back home and get back to the family business after all."

A rather attractive woman who simply loved to wear a bunny girl costume, and I mean a bunny girl costume with even a bunny mask came close to me and gave me a baked sweet potato, I guess it was to make sure I didn't leave on an empty stomach. It sure didn't help that she was the daughter of the owner of the particular circus I was saying goodbye to.

"You never told us what is it that your family does?" I guess since I was leaving might as well answer that question like I did so many times before. As I jumped off the cart and looked at them, I was ready for either their looks of confusion or right down horror as I told them. It always happens, there has never been a single circus group that when I told them actually looked happy to hear it.

"My family business? Why we are Exorcists." Yep, it happened again. The looks of shock, disbelief and even confusion were there. I guess I will never get used to this. It sure didn't help that I lost my gloves, that made everyone always stare at my Anti-Akuma weapon when it was not active.

As I began walking through the streets to either find a casino to earn some money or a nice inn in which I could do some work to earn a stay I felt something familiar. It was the same dark feeling I got whenever I was you could say unlucky and found yet another Akuma, or you could say that I got lucky too.

You see my eldest brother pretty much stole most of my Noah abilities, and the only way I found so far too slowly regain them was to actually kill his creations. He has to put a little of his own Noah power in them to make them loyal to him after all. No major loss to him he could regenerate it eventually, but in my case, that was not something I would be willing to do, or at least not at the moment.

My Noah power was so low I couldn't even assume my real form. I couldn't even shapeshift for prolong periods of time. The thing is, every time I kill an Akuma the soul of the poor unfortunate always gives me the little bit of Noah power they had as a gift for saving them. During my travels with Cross I managed to kill a few dozen Akuma, so my power was slowly returning to me.

The first ability I had that was unique to me that I managed to recover was the ability to compose music and play the piano. People often enjoyed me playing on the piano, and so it became a rather nice extra source of income.

Anyways I keep rambling, don't I? As I was saying I keep feeling the familiar feeling of an Akuma nearby, it was coming from an abandoned church of all places. I thought about it, 'Well at the very least I would have a nice place to sleep for the night, but I could get lucky and manage to kill one of the Akuma my traitorous brother made.'

Sure enough, I got in and the first thing I see is the barrage of cursed bullets hit a few cops, the gas they release when fired is hard to mistake for anything else. I saw a young lady cop unconscious and a rather fat looking cat. I always had a thing for cats, and Timcampy often got confused for a cat's toy. Alright I will admit it, I didn't want to save the cat as much as the cat tried to eat my Master's golem and I had to rescue it, to rescue my friend Timcampy.

So here I am dragging a young woman, my luggage and a rather fat cat that was sitting on my head with a grin that reminded me of the brother who betrayed me. I managed to walk to a nearby police station when out of nowhere some person grabbed me and placed a pair of handcuffs on me. The young woman was taken away and so was my luggage and the cat.

To be honest I didn't mind having that large fuzzball taken off me, as much as I minded that it still was treating my friend Timcampy as a chew toy! I saw as they at least placed the lady officer on a bench to let her be somewhat comfortable and then they dragged me into a dark, smelly and quite frankly depressing looking room.

'Great, these people think I am responsible for the deaths that Akuma caused. I will never get used to how many times local police try to blame this one anyone or any reason to get off from actually either risking their necks or to make the community the serve think they are actually protecting them.'

"Look, kid, we have you dragging one of our officers, and asides from that cat, and an unconscious officer you are the only other person present at the scene of the crime, so why don't you quit the innocent act and confess? You and I both know you are the creep that has been killing people around in this city!"

I didn't like the fact that he called me kid for one, I was older than he was, after all, hell I was older than most of the people in the entire city since technically I was hundreds of years old. I even managed to grow my current body to the point I looked like a guy in my mid-twenties. Not an easy thing to do, but like I said I regained a little bit of my power thanks to the few Akuma I managed to kill in the last ten years.

"Alright Sherlock, let's relax for a little bit and think about it. If I was the person killing the citizens of this city why wouldn't I have killed the lady officer you found me with? Why would I carry such a women to a nearby police station if I didn't want to save her? If I am a mass murderer as you accuse me of being, why would I care about the welfare of one of your fellow police officers?"

"Do you have any proof that I am the culprit? Any evidence? Did you find the murder weapon on my luggage? Anyone give you an eyewitness report? Anything that could be used in a court of law? The answer to all these questions is No. That is why you are trying to intimidate me into getting a confession out of me."

I looked at him and he looked more upset as my little monolog continued, "So in short you know I didn't do any sort of murder, and I can tell you that I didn't since I just arrived in this city, to begin with. You, however, are determined to pin those murders on me so that you and the rest of the men under your command can stop actually having to look for the actual killer."

"Hey, I don't blame you, from what you just told me the person who killed these people you told me about is a real psycho. I sure wouldn't want to meet him or her in a dark alley let me tell you." That is when a man came running into the room screaming that an Officer named Moor regained consciousness.

This made the idiot seated right across from me smiled, "You said there was no evidence didn't you? Well my so friendly little psychopath, let's see what Moor has to say! I am willing to bet a week's salary that she tells us she saw you killing the latest victim!"

I looked at him and looked at the officer that came in screaming, "Alright I will take you up on that bet. You can get a nice fake confession if she is right, but no influencing the witness and once you lose I expect you to hand over the cash right on the spot! Gambling is not illegal but it is serious business."

Just as the woman came in the room, he stood up from his seat and pointed his right finger towards me. "You are on! Come on Moor tells us what you saw! Tells us how you saw him killing the latest victim."

She actually looked at me and I was smiling at her and waving my hand trying to be as friendly as possible. "Actually, Sir, what I saw was this person chasing after a fat cat while caring a suitcase through the local abandoned church."

The idiot knew he lost the bet, and he knew he couldn't pay up either by the way he was behaving, it was plainly obvious for me to deduce. Another officer came in and told them that there were no weapons, not even a gun in my suitcase.

That is when the fat cat that she mentioned came running after him and ran across the room and jumped on my lap purring like he really was happy that I was alright. That does it, if this cat makes it through my current Akuma hunt, I swear I am adopting the cat, much to my friend's discomfort, and naming it the Millennium Kitty!

"Well looks like I just earned me some cash, you were wrong, and how long is it going to take to get these things off my hands, you don't have to tighten them so much you know." The officer came and tried to remove the handcuffs and when he did my right hand was exposed. Great, just what I needed, some other reason to make the idiots freak out.

"Is that blood on his hand! See I knew he was the killer confess!" The idiot simply refused to accept reality or it is that he simply didn't want to go home and tell his wife that he gambled a week's salary and lost.

"Actually my hand has always looked like this, for you see I do happen to know what is killing the innocent people of this city, I happen to be a clergyman, and the thing that is killing your people is called an Akuma, and this hand of mine is my Anti-Akuma Weapon. Tell me officers have you ever heard of the Black Order?"

They all began laughing their head off, "Moor you are in charge of this mental case till we can prove either he did those murders or we find who did! I never heard of any church organization called the Black Order, and you say you are a clergy? Clergymen wear a uniform depending on their position in the church stop kidding, you are the murderer and while you are in Moor's custody I will prove it!"

I looked at her and she began to look to me like she was really upset at me, we walked towards her home, and she even took us to her bedroom. She did say that she didn't want to disturb the sleep of her sleeping brother.

She took a big old dictionary and laid it in front of me, "Look, I don't think it's nice to make excuses, or make up lies, here is the definition of an Akuma, it says it is a mythical figure that was blamed for plagues and disasters in ancient times."

I looked at her and I got to say without her coat and her hat, I got a pretty good look at her face and figure. She actually was a rather nice looking young woman. Hell, I wouldn't mind asking her out on a date or two if we met under better circumstances. I stood up from the bed I was sitting on and looked out the window, she lives a few feet away from the abandoned church, that is not good at all.

That must mean that the Akuma must be living near this house and it had been smart enough to keep hidden from her notice. "That is what the dictionary says, and the definition is true, except we are not dealing we fictional mythical creature. We are dealing with something that is far worse. The Akuma are mass killing machines made by their creator a man they call the Millennium Earl."

"You see the Earl preys on the souls of those that have suffered a great tragedy, especially the loss of a loved one. He tricks them into calling for the soul of their precious person, the person they love or a relative, and they are told by doing this they will get that person back, but instead, they are locked into the machine that the Earl made using dark matter. The Earl then commands his new Akuma to kill the person who the Earl tricked and take that body as it's new disguise."

"The Akuma are powered by the suffering of the soul trapped inside it, and the soul has no way to disobey the orders the Earl gives it. My order destroys this Akuma to free the souls of the people that are trapped and tortured."

Just then a man in a wheelchair came in and he looked like he was having a panic attack, "Mark what is the matter? There is nothing wrong, you can go back to your room. This is Mark my brother in law, come on Mark what is the matter with you?"

That is when my cursed eye activated and I could see what this person really was, no wonder Moor never noticed him before, the Akuma had the perfect hiding spot and nothing would ever make her suspect Mark, he was in a wheelchair and looked like a person who was mentally disabled due to his grief, but he can't lie to my eye, and I can see the soul that is trapped inside this Akuma.


	3. Chapter 3

This is a Man Fanfiction only.

Just as I expected the poor guy began to freak out and just as Moor was going to offer him some emotional support metal components came out of him like a tidal wave of metal, electronic parts, and wires. The whole transformation was grotesque and that is saying something coming from me. The final touch was that it had the disfigured face of the guy on the chest with a black reversed pentagram.

I had second before I could act and I caught the blast that was intended for Moor. The bullet was shot with such strength that it sent us flying through the wall of her home and into the abandoned church. The smoking bullet was still in my hand. Moor was looking at it and saw that my hand had transformed.

"Don't touch it, this thing has a very nasty virus. Once it's inside a person it consumes the victim leaving nothing behind." I lifted my hand and for a second I saw the cat had actually jumped to try and save me, I couldn't help but feel sad as I saw the black star marks appear on his fur.

The marks spread all over him until his entire body had turned black and broke into dust right before her eyes, "Sorry Kitty, I guess I couldn't save you after all." Timcampy came flying and sat on my head. I guess since the cat is dead he didn't feel like he needed to hide anymore.

"I told you this thing is a weapon, made using the suffering of a human soul. I don't think that is your brother in law, I can see the souls of these things, and all I see is a young woman dressed in a wedding dress."

She looked at me and then she saw the Akuma land right near us, "It can't be if what you said is right then the soul trapped in that monster is none other than my sister! CLARE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! WHY WOULD YOU KILL MARK? WHY WOULD YOU KILL ANYONE? ANSWER ME CLARE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

I grabbed her and pushed her hard to get her out of the way, I managed to get her away fast enough for her to evade the series of shots the Akuma had intended on using to kill her and me. "You can't reason with it! That thing has your sister's soul but she has no control of what she does, she must obey the orders of the maker, the Millennium Earl. You lose your head and we will end up as dead as that cat, and all the people this thing has killed."

She was crying when she began punching me on my chest with both fists. "You don't understand Clare is the most gentle and kind person I ever was known. She is such a pacifist that she actually was against me becoming a police officer in the first place. You said that claw of yours is a weapon, is killing Clare the only way to stop her?"

I began shaking my head and placed my still human looking hand on her shoulder, "You have it all wrong, this weapon destroys only the Akuma but releases the souls trapped inside those things. By using this we can make sure Clare and Mark can be reunited in Heaven. Now what I need you to do is to go outside this church and keep the other officers outside, we don't need more victims to make this thing stronger! The more people it kills the more the soul suffers and the stronger it gets."

She turned around and before going she asked me if their guns wouldn't help. I told her her weapon and any weapon not like mine were useless, she might as well try to stop a volcanic eruption with a pea shooter.

I saw her run towards the exit, and I jumped to cover her. "Hey AKUMA, I am your target, leave the girl alone and face me or are you too chicken to actually fight someone that can fight back?" That had the intended effect and sure enough, the tick mark on the face on this thing was easy for me to see.

I began dodging and evading the fire of this thing while using my claw to slowly take care of the few guns that looks like they could be ripped off its body. As I began to disarm it the thing began to really get upset and just as I was done taking all but the main gun Moor and the other officers came in to see us fight, it seems Moor didn't manage to convince the Lieutenant about what I told her. I had no time to lose and so in a desperate gamble I slammed my claw into the AKUMA and crushed in a way that it was completely destroyed.

I saw the soul of the woman finally being free, "Rest in peace Clare, may you find happiness in god's domain with Mark." Sure enough, she opened her hands and a small ball of dark looking energy came out of her grasp and into me. As she finally ascended towards heaven I heard her say thank you.

I looked at Moor, and the other officers looking at me with a shocked look on their faces. "Honestly Moor you need to be more assertive in the way you talk to people. I told you to keep them outside for their safety. If they had been in here a few seconds ago all these idiots would be as dead as the people that thing killed before I got here."

I looked at her superior, "You think you know everything, well next time you find only the victims clothes and you know someone has been killed, called the Black Order to send an exorcist because next time you might be as lucky that one of us was in your city. Now if you will excuse me since the situation has been handled and there is no more threat right now of another Akuma, well I need to get going."

Just as I left the officers with a stunned look on their faces, I heard someone pushing her way through the small gathering of officers, I looked around to see the blushing face of Moor. "Can you at least tell me your name? I should know who to tell the Black Order saved me."

I smiled and looked at her, she was going to put in a good word for me. That was not expected or needed but there is no way I could leave without at least telling her my name. "Just tell them that the student of General Cross saved you, you can call me Allen, Allen Walker. Come on Timcampy we still got a long way to go."

As I walked outside of the city and began the long trek towards the place Cross told me the Black Order was I realized that he never even showed it to me on a map. This trip was getting harder and harder and somehow I felt like Cross was doing this intentionally.

As soon as I reached the side of a mountain, I looked the side of it. "Timcampy be sure to remind me what have I ever done to your master to make him hate me so much." I began to climb up the sheer face of the mountain, it looked like a cliff, and as I climbed I almost lost my grip a couple of times. The climb was sheer murder on my poor clothes, I wouldn't be surprised that I arrived at the top of this thing looking like I was wearing rags.

As soon as I got up there and began to walk towards the large building, I saw something rather strange, a sort of relief that looked like a large, thin face on the outside of the building, I guess this must be the gate guardian Cross told me about.

"Excuse me, I been sent by my Master General Cross to meet with a Branch Director by the name of Kamui." The face suddenly came alive and looked at me.

"Beginning scans to see if you are human or an Akuma!" I knew I was going to have the results of that scan, and sure enough the second he saw the black reversed pentagram over my eye he had the exact reaction I figured this thing would have, meaning it freaked the hell out. I honestly wish I could cover that thing sometimes, I never met anyone whoever saw it and didn't think I was either the Anti-Christ or a demon straight from hell.

"Will you shut up, I am cursed, that should tell you I am human. You stupid door open up and let me meet with the person Cross sent my introductory letter to a few days ago." Just as I told him he face and he continued to freak out and refused to open up.

"NO WAY I AM OPENING, THAT MARK MEANS YOU ARE A SERVANT OF THE EARL SENT TO KILL US! YOU BETTER RETREAT AND TELL YOUR MASTER HIS PLAN DIDN'T WORK OUT OR AN EXORCIST WILL COME OUT AND DESTROY YOU!"

Just as the face made me think it was an idiot a man jumped over it and landed in front of me. "You got some guts trying a frontal assault against us, but you are liable to lose them. Prepare to be vanquished."

The moron couldn't look more like an emo even if he tried, I swear if I look at the definition of the world emo I would expect to see this guy's face right next to the description of the word. I didn't have a nice trip and the climb up the cliff was no joy either. I was royally pissed off and his attitude wasn't making me very compassionate.

I sent my will through my weapon and it transformed, "Well since you are an idiot, no one will miss having you around. In case you haven't noticed this is my Anti-Akuma weapon. I am an exorcist trained by General Cross, I have Timcampy with me, you blithering idiots! Do you think Cross would trust his own golem to an Akuma!"

The sword wielding emo looked at the door, "Hey better be safe than sorry!" He looked at me and at my weapon, "We will find out if this thing is really an Anti-Akuma weapon when we are done dissecting you."

I looked at him and used as much of my Noah power as I could before actually transforming into my real form. Everything looked like was happening in slow motion to me, and I evaded his attack, once after another. He then sent a swarm of horrible looking insect larva looking things at me, I evaded those too easily.

When he was ready to send another wave I slid under his strike and punched him right in the gut. That made him lose his grip on his weapon and I caught it with my other hand. As he was on the ground I walked over to him and kicked him as hard as I could in the family jewels, when he was done writhing on the ground I stomped my foot on them a few more times for good measure.

"Since you want to kill me, then self-defense has been established. I think I should do you the same treatment you planned to do unto me, say your prayers idiot, cause I will be using your sword to cut you open and gut you like a trout."

The gate opened and I heard the voice of a man on the outside speakers. "We checked his credentials Kanda he is the student of General Cross, he has Timcampy as proof, call off the attack. Allen could you kindly forgive Kanda he tends to be a little gung-ho."

A rather nice looking young woman came, and I have to say the way she was standing and her posture made her look adorable, but then again the robes that the Black Order gave her were intended for practicality and not to enhance or properly display her physical appearance. "Stop doing that Kanda, and you two better come in before this stupid door closes again."

As we walked in I swear he was glaring at me as he walked away, there is no way in hell I would even try to offer a handshake to the bastard that had every intention of dissecting me. "Sorry for the mix-up, but you said my brother's name wrong. It's Komui, not Kamui. It is really hard having such a disorganized brother like him, I sometimes wonder how the hell he became Chief of our branch I will never figure that out."

I guess living with Cross made me suddenly feel very sympathetic towards her plight. "Oh, trust me, I know how you feel all too well, the name is Allen, Allen Walker. Now let's go see that trouble causing brother of yours before another disaster happens."

As we walked towards his office I heard her say that I couldn't be more right even if I tried, we briefly stopped outside the door to what it appeared to be our destination. "You keep looking at my face, do I have something on my face?"

I looked at her and moved a little closer, "Why yes you do, you got a rather lovely pair of eyes, a nose, a set of lips all in a rather beautiful looking face, and framed by your raven colored hair." She turned around and even I can tell she was blushing, as soon as she was facing the door the door slammed open.

Again I meet a person that would be perfect to describe another word on the old dictionary, and this word that the face I was looking at would be for the description of the word pervert. "Sorry for the trouble Allen, I just had to find the letter the General sent to me, sorry for the delay. Now, why don't you two follow me and let's get ready to examine your Akuma weapon. We need to make sure it has not been damaged due to poor maintenance."

As I turned willed my weapon to activate the look of disappointment appeared on Komui's face. "Your weapon seems to be doing just fine, a parasite type. These sort of Akuma weapons are rare, the ability to change in order to better serve their host's needs, and turn physical energy into energy it can use. I wouldn't worry too much Allen, the cook of this place will make more than enough to sate your hunger."

"Now if you two will follow me, we will be meeting with the people in charge of the Order to have you ordain an Exorcist and meet someone very special to give you a final test." Damn that Cross he only said I had to meet Komui, and he didn't mention the reception or the potential tests that I was going to face when I got to the Black Order.

As we walked down a corridor we stopped on what looked like an elevator in the shape of an upside down pyramid. The second we got on it, the thing began to descend in a large cavern. "Your weapon is made of a substance we call Innocence, it was made from a larger group of pieces and each told us a warning about the plans of the Millennium Earl. Ever since we learned of the warning and faced the Akuma we have been able to weaponize the Innocence and use it against the Akuma and the minions of the Earl."

He touched my hand as my weapon deactivated, "This weapon is the only means we have of destroying the Akuma and saving humanity." The second he finished talking the elevator came to a stop, and I felt something like tentacles wrap around me, and I was lifted up from the elevator.

That is when a face came down to touch what would be her forehead against mine, and she began to say a number in percentages, I was not going to let this person be the only one to surprise me. I leaned my head a little closer and the second she said the last digit and ended up kissing her lips, I truly intended on kissing her forehead, but she moved as she said the last digit and I kissed her on her lips instead.

After a brief peck on her lips she blushed and for some reason, I could feel the young woman that was Komui's sister become rather upset. "Does he meet your approval Helvaska? Allen the woman you kissed is also an exorcist she keeps her weapon active all the time and is the keeper of the Innocence we find till we can find a compatible host."

Helvaska looked at me as she lowered me back down on the elevator, "Allen Walker you are very compatible with your weapon, and not a bad kisser, Allen Walker when the world has been consumed by darkness your weapon shall give birth to a great destroyer of time. You may be the salvation of this world. I pray that you survive your continuing struggle."

She disappeared and several chairs appeared on the far side of the room. "You are just like your master it seems Allen Walker, you also love to leave an impression on people. Seeing that Hevlaska has accepted you and you passed your compatibility test, let us welcome you as a new Exorcist in the Black Order, may you have god's blessing as you protect the innocent souls of this world."


	4. Chapter 4

This is a Man Fanfiction only.

I couldn't help but to look at a young woman near me who was still looking very upset, I had to find out why did she go from the friendly, and peppy young woman to the way she was. "Excuse but mind me asking you a question? What's eating you? I mean you look rather upset."

Komui looked at me and began to laugh, "Oh I think my sister Lenalee is upset that you ended up kissing Hevlaska the way you did. I honestly don't know why she is this upset, though." I didn't know either, it was never my intent on kissing her on her lips like that, a kiss on her forehead sure, but a kiss on her lips I would never do that unless I got to know the woman I would kiss.

As Tiki used to say kissing unknown women on the lips is like taking an extra round at a game of Russian Roulette, it never ends pretty. I will be sure to tell my brother that he was so right about that the next time I see him and he is not trying to kill me for what the others actually think I did to them.

"I honestly was only trying to kiss her forehead, she was holding me so gently that I felt I had to thank her for being so considerate, and a kiss on her forehead was the only way I had to thank her. Above all else, I was raised to be kind and considerate to women, a gentleman in all things."

Lenalee stopped looking at me for a second and Komui could only laugh, "Or you could be saying that to hide that you are a pervert, sort of like a wolf disguising himself as a sheep. I have to warn you, my sister, absolutely hates perverts."

Well, I did end up being the bartender and sometimes the bouncer of several high-end bars and strip joints due to the debt Cross forced me to pay. This is the first time anyone outside my own family ever called me a pervert. The only family member that did call me is the self-appointed father figure to my little sister Road.

"Aside from the fact that Lenalee will avoid me like I carry an incurable plague, where exactly am I sleeping, and when is dinner?" Komui laughed and told me that my room was the room a few doors from his office and Lenalee would show it to me after dinner.

We walked into the dinner and I saw a man who had pink hair and had his hair in a pair of pigtails. I walked over to the place that seems where you ordered the food and I knew that because he kept putting the food trays and saying when an order was ready.

"Excuse me, sir, I am Allen Walker new to the Order, and if it would be too much trouble I like something to eat for dinner."

I swear I saw the guy giggling and blush like a teenage girl, "Well look at the manners on this one, well Allen Walker be most welcome, you can ask me for anything you want, I can cook anything you want to eat."

Well that is not something I was expecting, I looked at the menu and began to do the numbers, "I want five orders of the Miso Udon Noddles, five steamed Vegetable Casseroles, Six Steak Specials, and for Desert I want a whole minced meat pie and twelve servings of Metatarsi Dango, no better make that thirty."

The man looked at me with a surprised look on his face, "Are you sure you will be able to eat all that?"

"Oh, that is nothing but a light dinner. I could it double that amount, but I see how busy you are and I don't want to be inconsiderate. I have a parasite type weapon after all. This thing makes me burn up a lot of calories so it always ends up making me feel hungry."

Just as when the man was supposed to go cook I heard someone start a commotion at one of the tables. I decided to see what the hell was going on. "Exorcist does all the fighting, and getting the innocence you people find, that is all Finder's are good for after all. You failed to become compatible with a piece of innocence and thus you had to accept the lowly position of being a Finder, Finders are a dime a dozen, if you don't like the risk then get the hell out!"

I looked at one of the men that was dressed like the man Kanda was arguing with. "So what cause this to happen?" The man looked at me and smiled, "You see we were holding a moment of silence to honor the Finders that recently lost their lives searching for pieces of Innocence. The Exorcist, you probably know him as Kanda, just sat down and started eating."

I looked at the man and then at Kanda, "Don't bother trying to get that guy to care about anything other than what is best for him, I know his type. Just think of him as a spoiled rotten brat, with an ego the size that could eclipse the sun, hold your moment of silence and go on with your life, he is not going to care either way."

"I know the type, the macho guys who go around thinking that we should kiss the ground they walk on simply because we are breathing the same air than they are. He is a bully, the best way to deal with a bully is either ignore him or pretend he is not even there."

He looked at me and smiled, "You seem to care about what other people in the order feel regardless of where they serve the order. That speaks well of you, thank you for your advice I haven't been a Finder for long myself."

I saw the man who the Finder I met called Jerry called for me to get my food. I got my mountain of food and took it to my table, every person nearby looked at my food and then at me thinking there was no way I could eat that much food, it was easy to read their feelings from the way their faces looked.

"Don't worry just make sure never to take a situation for granted, practice constant vigilance and take care of those around you. I find that often teams that are made on the battlefield tend to be better when everyone knows they got each other's backs."

I began eating and sure enough, the expected response came, "How can you know about such things, you don't look any older than my kid brother?" I took a drink from y mug and looked at him. "Didn't I tell you never take a situation for granted? I look young but trust me I been around a few times, I have seen my fair share of battles, disasters, and hard situations."

One of the men asked me for one such a situation, I finished eating and took a sip of my mug, I have to admit this tea is really got to have during a meal, "Well I worked once in a circus, now circuses have all kinds of animals that the people in charge of them take care of them. The situation I will share with you is about the day Bessie gave birth to her kids."

I looked for my wallet in my front pocket and sure enough, there is was, I opened it and in one of the picture there was Bessie and her kid. "So let me get this straight you helped one of those women during the birth of her child." I could not help but to laugh my head off at such remarks, it was a really hard thing to calm down not wanting to get splashed by the hot tea.

I pointed at the middle of the picture, "Bessie is the name of this circus trained elephant. She became pregnant due to the practice of the circus to promote births to protect the species. That is the publicly known reason, the real reason is that one day that baby elephant would take over the role of his mother once she passes away."

"We had to dig a ditch big enough to submerge her in. we dug for three days straight just to get the place ready for the birth, and then we worked together for twenty-four hours during the labor until the baby was finally born. By the end of that task we were covered in mud from head to toe, but don't worry last time I saw Babar was doing just fine."

"In the circus, it's not everyone for themselves, it's everyone pitches in with each other and we helped each other no questions asked. Trust me, people, when you work with others and you know those around you care about your well being, even a tough demanding job becomes less of a burden. With helping hands a hard task becomes much more pleasant and easier."

That is when Kanda flat out sat right next to me as I was enjoying my after dinner tea, "You can say that because you never fought an Akuma, you don't know the dangers we Exorcist's face and all this care for each other garbage and mutual comrades to me it sounds like the talk of a naive greenhorn who doesn't know how bad things are in the places Exorcist are sent."

I finished my tea and looked at one of the members dressed in the uniform of a lab worker, he had particularly thick glasses. "I am always in the mood for a friendly wager, so have about it we settle thing by putting our money where our mouth is? Hey, lab assistant do you have the access to the latest field reports? Maybe you can settle our bet. Tell us how many Akuma has Yu here defeated and then tell him how many I have defeated, let's see who really is the greenhorn between us?"

The guy introduced himself as Johnny, but he asked what the loser have to pay up the winner in this bet, since Exorcist don't make much in the way of money, damn those vows of poverty, vows of poverty my foot, I could finance a small city by the amount of money Cross wasted in a single month.

"The loser has to wear a yellow bandanna that says greenhorn in bright green letters. Come on Johnny don't keep us waiting how many Akuma has Yu dealt with?" Johnny said that he had a confirmed eighteen for the number of Akuma he has dealt with, I waited for him to count my count and he apparently didn't believe it.

"What the hell, there is no way a person this young has defeated this many Akuma. It says he has defeated over fifty of them, all the way to a few level two Akumas." That was when I remember the few Akuma that had reached an awakened form or evolved to the next level. Those fights were some of my most troublesome and caused me severe headaches.

"Those level two Akumas are a pain to deal with, they develop a personality and even special skills. One of them could turn rhymes into mental mazes, they would really do a number on you if you didn't know how to figure out the way out of the maze by figuring out the rhyme. The other loved to turn poisons into a baked good, a single cheesecake took out an entire party, it is one thing when the people eat the cake, it is much different when the cake eats the people eating it."

"I dealt with Akuma since the day Master Cross discovered me, haven't stopped since. I just dealt with a level one in a city a few miles away from here."

Kanda looked to at me with a look of utter disbelief, that is when he said something that was clearly an insult to myself and other people, "It is quite clear the research wing wants to gain the favor or something from General Cross, and the way they are doing this is giving his student credit for things other Exorcist have done."

He pointed at me as he got up, "There is no way a greenhorn like this has dealt with that many Akumas and there is no way he faced a single level two, even if they exist which I don't believe they do when I haven't even seen one. So I call those records false if not outright bullshit!"

That was the final straw, I was not in the mood to take any more crap from him. I got up and just as I walked near him to give him a much-needed attitude adjustment I heard a voice. "Kanda, Walker the Chief is calling you to his office it's about a mission."

I turned and looked at the place the voice came from all I saw was a full grown man hiding behind Lenalee. He began to walk to the office and I decided to follow him, his beating will come after the mission.

As I walked in there was only one word I could use to describe the inside of Komui's office, and that was a pigsty. Papers, files, and books laying all over the place. I will be damned the supposed Chief of our branch was taking a nap. I was not in the mood for such horseplay. I grabbed the thickest book I could find and without saying a word I walked towards the sleeping body of our Chief.

I didn't take into consideration this would be considered insubordination, quite frankly I needed to beat someone, and since my chance to beat some manners into Kanda was ruined by the man taking a nap in the middle of his workday, I decided to give me the beating Kanda would be receiving in the mess hall.

I lifted my hand and without any mercy or consideration, I slammed the book as hard as I could on his empty coconut that most would consider his head. "Alright, Alright I am up, stop the beating, or are you trying to kill me Lenalee!"

I placed the book on the desk and looked at him, "First off you don't take naps during your shift, second Lenalee is not the one that woke you up, and Lastly if I manage to kill you we might get a Chief for this branch of the order that doesn't slack off and we might have a better chance of saving humanity."

I went to the sofa, the only sofa in the place and I was not happy that I would have to sit next to the foul-mouthed, ill-mannered Kanda of all people. "Well since you are so focused on duty, I have to tell you that I called you both since you both are going on an Innocence Retrieval Mission." That instant we both looked at each other and I knew we both felt the sheer hatred of the idea of us having to work together.

"Oh, what is the matter? Trouble in Paradise?" Lenalee was quite to remind her brother that we didn't exactly meet under the best of circumstances. Some of the other staff complained that it was Komui's fault for having such a bad habit in failing to properly file anything.

He smiled and looked at both of us, "Oh, come on, we need to work together and get along to better protect humanity, I know think of this next mission as a way to bury the hatchet and patch things ups between each other, I am sure after this mission you two shall be such good friends you will never believe that you at one point hated each other."

A ghost looking creature with a capable said that there was a better chance for Lenalee to be able to get engaged to someone without her brother causing a scene that ruins her chances to ever getting married, than the two of us suddenly becoming friends.

I looked at Kanda, "As long as you give me the hatchet and don't ask where I decided to bury it, and what I did with the corpse I don't have a problem." Kanda looked at me and said that he was also thinking along those lines too.

"See you two haven't even started and you both agree with each other about something. I tell you, I have a feeling you two will be the best of friends when you two get back. Now I need to tell you about the place you are going. We believe that there is an Innocence piece at the city of Mater. The city has been in ruins for years but some believe the place is haunted by a ghost of a person who signs to the people that get lost in the city."

He touched a key on his keyboard and a holographic image appeared, it looked to me like something out of a fairytale. "As you might not know Allen, Innocence has often appeared in places where mysterious or miraculous things have happened or are rumored to happen. So investigating old fairy tales such as this is a good chance for us to gain a piece of Innocence. Never mind that the Earl will be more than likely try to gain that same piece as well."

We both got up at the same time and we both took a copy of the map detailing the area where we were headed, "Then we don't have much time to sit here listening to fairy tales, we need to hurry and get that Innocence before the Earl gets it and uses it to increase his power. I will return, I am not so sure about the lying greenhorn, but I shall succeed."

I looked at him and walked near the door, "You took the words right from my own mouth, but don't worry Kanda I will save you if you get down on your knees, with tears in your eyes as you beg me to save your life."


	5. Chapter 5

This is a Man Fanfiction only.

As we got in the boat I realized that this was not going to be a pleasant trip at all, we managed to find the Finder assigned to us as we got out of the boat and we walked through the city towards the train yard. The city that we walked through was rather large, and I have to admit that sometimes I kept looking around expecting to find a stray Akuma.

Large cities have particularly interested the Earl, my brother probably considers large cities a rather nice source of unfortunate souls to trick people and make more of his little creations. As we walked I saw two young men bickering and that made me remember the reason why I didn't get along with my brother.

He often used to say that if humanity has no loyalty towards the family that saved them, that we shouldn't show them any mercy, as a Noah people treat members of our family as demon possessed people at best or outright heretics or infidels at worst. I know that humans often tend to lash out at our family.

I often argued with him that it was just a matter of them not understanding and not knowing about us. I often argued that if we talked to them enough they would understand, and with the understanding being able to live with each other in peace was a definite possibility.

We used to argue all the time, and I think that was the reason he tried to kill me and still all my power. I get the feeling he felt that if I loved humans so much, that I shouldn't be allowed to exist as a Noah, or that I would get in his way of his genocidal plan to kill all humanity.

What a surprise the Order actually has a compartment on the train reserved for our us, I still don't see why the Finder had to stay outside, then again I don't want to spend that much time with Kanda myself, I better check what is the Finder doing.

I opened it and saw him playing with some cards. "What exactly are you doing?" The Finder looked up from his cards and smiled, "You know you are the first Exorcist whoever asked me that, I know it looks like I am playing, but actually I am doing some fortune telling to see if we need to prepare for something before we get to ruins."

I guess everyone has a hobby, "Mind if you tell me a little bit about the ruins we are going?" He kept touching his cards and laying in them in a rather nice pattern, I know I seen it once already.

"Sure I don't mind at all, the City of Matel was actually a very famous crafting city once, but something caused the city to slowly die out, the water went bad, then the crops began to fail, it is said that the residents decided to unite all their crafting skills and materials to create a never seen wonder, a singing doll. The doll would go around the city singing her beautiful song, and some think that it made their last days rather comfortable."

He just kept touching the cards and I guess he was worried about something, then again I wasn't that comfortable having to work with Mr. Antisocial Kanda myself. "So the people of the city died out, but it was said that travelers would sometimes get drawn to the ruins when they heard a song. I know what you are thinking, why didn't they leave the city if the conditions were causing them to die? I guess they simply loved their city so much they rather die than abandon it."

The last card he placed was for the position of what would happen, the thing that made me worry is the card he placed on that spot. Without thinking about it I picked it up and looked at it, funny this card reminds me of the deck Tiki used to own.

"If this is our future, then we are going to have one hell of an adventure. You placed the joker on the place for the future things to happen, I don't know why but somehow I don't think that is a good sign."

I gave him back his card, "And you would be correct in thinking that, when fortune telling the Joker on the deck means uncertainty, but also means that the enemy will not be easy to identify. Like the Joker it can change the value depending on which cards are in play. This would mean that our mission will have some changes and not all those changes, much like you said will be to our benefit."

I looked at him and I finally understood why he was trying to use a fortune telling technique like card reading, he is worried about the mission too. "You know something there are no easy missions, then again think about why we are doing this? There is a person out there somewhere who's goal is to kill all humans. He hates humanity so much that I think he would be willing to destroy the entire world if he had to do it to wipe out humanity."

He began to shuffle his deck and then looked at me, "Tell me Allen how do you know the Earl's goal is to kill off humanity? You could be wrong you know, maybe he wants to test humanity and cause us to improve."

After centuries of putting up with the abusive and insulting treatment we got from humans, I know better than anyone how much he hates them. I am probably the only Noah that knows the real reason humans behave this way with us. We are different from them, and they don't know us or understand us at all, this is the reason humans always mistreat my family.

I know for a fact that if the human race knew about us, and we came to understand each other, then this sort of situations would never happen. It's just that trying to understand something they fear is very difficult. That idiot brother of mine doing what he is doing is making the chances of humanity understand the Noah even more difficult.

Thanks to the actions of my eldest brother, I imagine humans will come to the conclusion that all members of my family are their enemy. "Trust me, the Millennium Earl hates humanity, we have to stop him and I know that it might be difficult, but I also know that we might lose something that could never be replaced, and something we should all treasure."

He looked at me and he looked a bit confused, "What do you think we will lose if the Earl wins Allen? What could possibly be worth risking your life for? Why are you an Exorcist Allen?"

I took the deck from his hand and cut it and gave it back to him. "A chance for a bright and happy future. I will take five." That is how I ended up playing poker with the guy till we reached the station. I have to say this guy really is good with that deck. I couldn't even tell when he was cheating, and that is saying something.

As the three of us got to the ruins of the city we saw something that was rather odd, the streets still looked like they been walked on, the place even had a few places where the garden plazas were taken care off. There was no litter or junk anywhere. The last thing I noticed was that there was supposed to be someone singing but there was no one doing that right now.

Our Finder finally decided to ask me something as we walked through the ruins, "Allen you seem like something is bothering you? What exactly do you think is wrong?"

I looked at the place and saw exactly what I was expecting, the signs were present. Thousands of years of experience as a Noah and I knew the signs all too well. The way the buildings were damaged, the scorch marks on the walls. There was no mistaking it, there had been heavy combat recently.

"You said that people who wonder this place were often greeted by someone signing, except the second we stepped in this place was as quiet as a graveyard. You must have noticed it too Kanda, there are clear signs of recent battle. We don't have time to take in the sights it seems, we need to find the finders that were sent to this place and fast."

Yu actually nodded his head and looked at the Finder working with us, "You have to have some means to determine where the other Finders are, so tell me where do you think they would go, how would they keep alive till the Exorcists arrive?"

He began touching the side of his head and looked at a holographic map from a terminal on his backpack. "If they are anything like me, they would pick a place with an easy vantage point, they wouldn't want to be caught by surprise. We need to find the place where they set the shield walls. I imagine they will use all their gear to form a shelter till backup arrives."

Easy vantage point I began to get an idea and as I began to climb the ruins to get a better look of an area, I saw a place that looked like someone made a small shelter with several shield units. "Kanda I found them, several hundred feet down our current road. It looks like they made a place down at what looks like to be a plaza."

Kanda saw me slide down towards them and he was sneering at me. "There was no need for you to act like a monkey bean sprout. I pretty much figured they would use the plaza, it's the place I would think most of the streets go there after all."

I really can't stand this idiot, I better put my personal feelings aside and focus on the mission. Failure here would end up helping my brother, and I didn't want that to happen. If it means that I have to put up with this idiot, well that is just another thing I have to sacrifice in order to keep the insane plan of my brother from succeeding.

Sure enough, we found ourselves staring at a bunker made with shielding units, it was an effective use I must say. In truth, it was quite a pleasant surprise that they came up with something like this apparently right before they died. It was the old saying that necessity is the mother of ingenuity all over again. I swear after this I will reserve my opinion of humans as being ignorant savages to a group of select individual, Yu Kanda is definitely getting added to that list.

The Finder found the controls of one and with the rather funny play on numbers, he managed to turn it off. We walked into a massive cave the finders made and we came face to face with a rather nice looking young lady, she was wearing this nice blue dress, and a hat to match.

Her companion was wearing rags and had a face that was as flat as a frying pan. "Well from the looks of it, we found the last survivor of Matel and the singer too. Now we only need to find the Innocence and get out of here before the thing that killed the finders comes back. Cause if he or she knows the field is off, he or she will return."

I had to agree with the Finder but I was getting sick and tired of thinking of him as just by his job designation. "Before we do anything else, Finder I need to know your name. Honestly, I can't stand calling you Finder any longer. I am liable to want to hit someone, and more than likely it would be Kanda getting hit. We don't want that to happen, I think he has a glass jaw."

The Finder for a second began to laugh, and I mean really laugh at what I told him. "You can call me Johnny, it's my name after all. Nice to finally be asked Allen."

As we finally got into the shelter formed from the shielding units I saw that the finder team were actually dead and only a young woman and a masked man were sitting in the middle of the makeshift shelter. I couldn't help but to smiled at the ploy they were using. It was rather funny to think about.

"So I gather that you two are the only survivors. I need to know who is the one they call the Ghost of Matel?" I couldn't help but to find what Kanda say funny. I felt like I would crack a rib from trying so hard not to laugh.

The masked man put up his hand, I see that it was that old ploy after all. "We need to get the innocence out of him and leave as soon as possible." That is when the young woman stood in front of him almost like shielding him from us. I must say that it was a rather nice gesture of solidarity if anything else, too bad I don't think it would have any effect on someone like Kanda.

"You can take the innocence after he runs out of energy, but please let me stay with him till that happens. He is the only person that has ever truly cared about me in my life. I want to at least be there for him in his last moments."

Johnny and I looked at her and we couldn't find a reason why to deny her request. "There is no reason why deny her request Kanda, we need to find and eliminate the Akuma that killed the finders. If this city had enough people, that could spell trouble for us."

Kanda looked at me with a clear look of anger and walked up towards me. "I didn't ask you for your opinion beansprout. The day I need the advice from a greenhorn like you, it will be a cold day in hell. We need to get the innocence and get out of here, that is the only reason we came here for, not to grant some sentimental request by two idiots that are going to die anyways."

I looked at Johnny and I couldn't help but to smile, "And this coming from a man that is supposed to be the great defenders of humanity? If this is how he treats the common folk, I can only say humanity is doomed."

Johnny began to nod his head and look at Kanda, "If you don't care about the people you are supposed to defend then it doesn't matter if we find the innocence. I agree with Master Allen, we need to find the Akuma that killed the finders and the people of this city. It is well known to us Finders that an Akuma becomes stronger the more people they kill."

As we began to hunt I could almost feel like a shadow was near me, I activated my eye and sure enough, I saw one Akuma, the thing was the soul inside was distorted which was a bad sign. This means that the Akuma had evolved. I decided to use more of my own strength and quicken my pace to find the place I was seeing this evolved Akuma.

As I reached the place I saw something that made me pause for an instance, a man who looked just like me except it was almost like looking at a mirror image of myself walking down the streets and he was clearly looking for someone or something.

"The ability to mirror the looks and abilities of others. You are one sneaky little Akuma, aren't you? I have to say the Millennium Earl really outdid himself when he made a monster like you. You even caused your very soul to deform to such an extent."

The Akuma tried to find me, but thanks to my eye I was able to keep well hidden. "Well, that is actually high praise coming from one of your kind Exorcist. You never even noticed when I was looking at you from afar. Here I was hoping you and your stupid friends guided me to the location of the Innocence in this city, the Earl wants it for some unknown reason."

I smiled as I heard him say that, I kept myself hidden as I had Timcanpy take everything that we said and taken a few images to back up what I had said. "Why don't you come out of hiding and face me, or are you too cowardly to face me like a man!"

My estimation of this thing's intelligence went down by a lot if he thinks something like that is going to influence me. I kept hidden and kept taking note of his supposed evolved abilities. He may know how I look, sound and move, but in reality, he had no real knowledge on how to use my weapon. I kept using my fingers to cut pieces of the building near him and causing them to fall on his head.

"Are you having fun? You know those pieces actually hurt when they hit me!" I smiled and kept on doing that if I kept him distracted Kanda would be able to see what Timcanpy recorded and he will find his way to where I been keeping the Akuma busy, I at least hope that is the case. Knowing Kanda he might delay just to give this thing more time to try and finish me off.

"You know you are one of the most sadistic humans I ever met. Do you enjoy causing me pain that much? Why I am almost tempted to say you aren't human at all." That is a bad move to say that to me, it was no secret among my fellow Noah that saying that I was not even human was considered a taboo when said about me.

"You just had to say that, didn't you? You question if I am human or not? Well, let's say I am very much like your precious creator. In fact, you are nothing more than a toy to him. You should watch what you say about me little puppet, or I might decide to cut your string. Now why don't I continue playing my melody on that empty coconut you call a skull, I never played a melody on a drum before, I usally prefer to play my music on a piano."

That made the Akuma both furious and for a second worried. It was no secret also that I was supposedly dead, killed by my eldest brother. I, however, was very much alive and as the darkness began to spread across my skin and the stigmata began to appear across my forehead. I felt more powerful by the second, if something made me stronger it is misery.

Negative emotions are second nature to the members of the Noah Clan, after all, we have been given ample experience feeling such emotions but very few times we actually felt positive emotions with anyone that was not one of us. If I had to count who ever made me feel this happy and positive feelings I could probably count them with the fingers in one hand.

I would never say it, but at times likes these I do miss Mana, I used the energy from my brief transformation to power my weapon a little further than even the Akuma expected, as part of a building fell down on top of him.

"So that is the Akuma, it really looks like you except in a sort of a reflection of you. Nice that you managed to keep it busy till I got here beansprout, let me handle things from here. You just watch and learn."

I turned and saw Kanda was ready and his weapon was already in his hand. I guess I didn't do such a good job hiding since Kanda found me. Good thing he found me after I reverted back to my human appearance, no need to tip off the Order what I really look like, at least not yet.


	6. Chapter 6

This is a Man Fanfiction only.

Kanda was trying to destroy the Akuma, but he was pretty much doing as well as I expected. At first, he was doing great, he even managed to cut the Akuma a few times, but that is when the Akuma changed shape again, but this time into Kanda. Now with the ability of his new form, he basically kept on countering Kanda's attacks.

If anything this was annoying for me to watch. "Hey, beansprout take the girl and the old man out of the city while I keep this monster busy. You wouldn't be any help anyways, just like I told Komui, you are nothing but a distraction and that is the only thing you are good for."

Leave to Kanda that the first thing he says when he is pretty much cornered to be something that made me angry enough to think about killing the Akuma and him as a means to release some of my frustration and anger.

I focused on my enemy and my arm began to contract and shift, I could feel it changing into something I never expected seen before, and as the pain of my arm changing came to an end I looked at my arm and it changed into a long-range sort of a cannon.

I decided that not to let the opportunity go to waste and concentrated on the Akuma, still hoping Kanda would be dumb enough to get caught in the blast, distraction is I, these lousy punks sure don't know how to respect their elders.

I focused on my emotions and I pumped them through my weapon, as soon as I did I felt like I could see the trigger as it appeared in my mind. I pulled the imaginary trigger and sure enough energy blasts came out of my arm in rapid succession.

It caught the Akuma by surprise and blasted an arm and half of his chest. **"DAMN YOU, EXORCIST, FIRST YOU TORTURE ME AND THEN YOU MUTILATE ME LIKE THIS! I AM ONLY DOING MY JOB!"**

I looked at it and he kept evading my shots as Kanda looked at me with a look of shock, "Don't just stand there looking, use those damnable nightmare creatures of yours and finish that thing off!"

He looked at me and he saw the Akuma run away from where we were standing. "I don't need to be told what to do by you beansprout. Look the Akuma is running away, it is a perfect chance for us to find the Innocence, that is why we came to these ruins in the first place."

Great, of all foolish things to say this has to be the single worst. I didn't wait for him to even react, I aimed my weapon at the Akuma and fired to blast off his legs right from under him. I willed my weapon to become the claw and it did, as I walked over to the Akuma he was crying.

"Oh come on, you exorcist are supposed to be the good guys. Good guys always forgive others and give people a second chance. Why don't you show me the mercy you show humans."

As I placed my claw on his head I smiled, "That is exactly what I am doing, showing you mercy." Without a moment to think what I told him I used my fingers and sliced the Akuma in half, the soul chains that were keeping the soul trapped inside the Akuma broke, and the man's soul was finally free.

He looked at me and before he disappeared he said thank you. I turned around to the glare of Kanda, "Beansprout mind telling me why did you finish that thing off? We are here to find the Innocence and killing that Akuma was a secondary optional objective."

I looked at Kanda and began shaking my head, "Well I will give you a couple of good reasons, first off the Akuma if left alone could have regenerated and tried to attack us again, secondly to eliminate any possible way for the Earl to know what we are looking for, last but certainly not least now that the Akuma is no more, we have all the time we need to find the Innocence in relatively safe surroundings."

I began to look at the people around me and in the young woman's eyes I saw fear, and so was in the ways of the friendly scout that came with me and Kanda. "You think of me monstrous, don't you? Killed that thing without a second thought. You would be wrong, I saved that poor soul." I went to look at the young man and the masked man.

As soon as I stepped closer I smiled as I got closer I had a feeling as my hand began to give me a small shaking feeling, almost like my hand was trembling, but not enough so that others would notice. I began to feel what was causing it, and it was strongest near the young woman that was supposedly taking care of the puppet this city built long ago.

That is when I realized why my hand was trembling, I could tell Kanda that the heart of this woman was, in fact, the Innocence. I could tell him this beautiful young woman was, in fact, the puppet the city built, and that the old man was a young man drawn to the city by her singing. I, however, was not as cruel as that, the man had little time left.

I got close enough to her to be able to whisper to her, "You wish to be with this man you love, don't you? Don't worry, I will keep your secret till this man breaths his last breath, that will be good enough for you?"

She began nodding her head, and her mouth moved to say thank you, but she was not heard. "So Kanda let's go and find this precious treasure, shall we? I don't know about you, but I am getting quite hungry."

As we walked I could see the masked man having a hard time breathing, and we finally reached what used to be the church of this city, I helped her place him on one of the still intact benches where the people a long time ago used to pray and she did pray or at least that it looked like to me, the finder, and Kanda.

"Your friend does not have long in this world, why don't you sing that song you know he loves so much? You don't need to worry we will give you enough time for you to be with him at his last moment."

She opened her eyes and a tear began to flow down her face, "You mean to tell me you figured it out, you know who I really was and didn't tell your friend? Why would you do that for me, Exorcist? I am only alive in no small part thanks to what you came here seeking, so why allow me to have this wish?"

Kanda looked at me angrily and the finder was laughing. "You mean to tell me she had the Innocence all along and you didn't tell me about it!" I looked at him with his sword drawn and ready to attack me.

"Kanda let's face it, you would have killed her even before you heard her request. I know what this person wants, she wants to spend the last moments of their lives together, they love each other after all. I know your type Kanda, you wouldn't know romance if your life depended on it. So let's let her spend her moments with her beloved and then she will give us the Innocence. There is no Akuma anywhere near here and therefore there is no rush."

He looked at them and sheathed his sword, "You are wrong you know, I do know a little something about loving someone. As your teammate, however, I wish you would give me the benefit of at least sharing important information like this in the future."

She began singing this really sweet and tender hymn and I had to agree it was rather soothing, I looked at Kanda, "I will when you actually call me by my name and not that ugly nickname you gave me."

That is when Kanda did something I never expected of him, he laughed, and I mean really began laughing. "Guess I should be nicer to the Finders then so they tell me what is going on, I don't learn the names of anyone in the Order till they have survived for one year at the very least. There are many people who simply will not make it for an entire year."

The song finally ended and sure enough, we saw that the innocence was ready for us to pick up. She exposed the compartment in her body where the Innocence had been plugged in into her body. I know Innocence is known to cause what people saw as miracles, but once we removed it, the young woman turned into a deactivated machine.

All the qualities that made her look human simply disappeared the second she did not have the Innocence piece inside her body. I saw that she was still holding the hand of the old man, I guess in the end she didn't want to be separated from him. I guess that is the miracle the Innocence caused, for a machine to live and find love.

As we walked back to the train station, I noticed something that was not there before, a piano. I also saw that the train schedule showed that it would take several hours for our train to arrive. "What kind of a fool places a piano like that in a train station, and the thing is not capable of playing any music without a pianist."

I looked at Kanda and could not help but to shake my head, "Kanda what piece would you ask for if there was a person on that piano?" He kept looking at it and said something cheerful like Moonlight Sonata." Cheerful? I had to wonder if during this mission that Akuma actually caused Kanda a brain injury.

Moonlight Sonata is one of the most depressing and it was usually played at a funeral, he called that cheerful? I guess since the idiot made the request I had no alternative but to sit down and do something I don't get to do that much, at least in a while.

I began to touch the piano keys and saw that it was tuned, much to my surprise. Kanda was calling me a fool until I began to play the music piece that he mentioned, I kept focused on my music and my surroundings, just in case, the previously asleep or bored people waiting for the train moved to be closer to the music.

I actually felt quite happier as I finished playing the song and I got a standing ovation from the people that had listened to me play. I had no better to do so I decided to ask if anyone else had a song they wanted to hear.

For the next three hours I played music on the piano, and me without a camera, the look of shock on Kanda's face was priceless. I finished playing as the train arrived, I knew the reason for the piano, as a black cat sat on the top of it. I could not attempt to go near the cat, but I began to glare at it, and the cat just glared right back at me.

I knew this was my crazy sister, I should have known better than think that my family would simply leave me be, as they thought that I was dead, the chances of me meeting any of them were slim to none. I went with Kanda and Johnny to the train.

"Tell me beansprout how long have you been able to play the piano?" I was not in a good mood when Kanda asked me that, I told him all of my life, I kept looking outside the compartment window as the train began to move away from the station, the cat was still glaring at me until the train was so far away that we could not see the train station anymore.

As we reached the place where we took the boats back to the Order I couldn't be happier to get this depressing mission over with. Kanda from the looks of it was actually looking forward to putting as much distance between us as I was.

We walked into Komui's office and we handed him the Innocence, we did our best to be brief in reporting what happened but I got the feeling that the Finder that was with us actually already reported what had happened and this to me at least seemed to be a mere formality.

I went to my room, and I really was feeling tired but someone was waiting for me in front of the door to my room. It was Lenalee for some reason she was not looking that happy, not happy at all. She did something that I never expect her to do, she walked up to me with her hands on her hips, I almost felt like when a wife was going to scream at her husband truth be told.

"Yu told me that you shamelessly flirted with a woman on your mission, now Allen tells me the truth?" Why do I feel like this is going to end up in an argument no matter what I say? I swear I could almost feel Mana laughing at me for some odd reason.

"Lenalee why it is a pleasure to see you, and no I didn't flirt with any woman, I was kind to the holder of the Innocence we just deliver to your brother. She was a mechanical doll, that the people of a ruined city made. Now, why so angry Lenalee?"

She began to blush and they looked really embarrassed for some reason, and throughout the entire thing, she was unable to speak a complete word apparently. "I am going to beat that stupid brother's skull in. He actually told me you found a lovely little girlfriend and then he made her out to be this blonde beauty."

I had to be honest with her, "Actually she was already involved with someone else for a long time, I know you might have the worst possible opinion of me considering who my Master is, but unlike him, I am no home wrecker. She did have a rather nice wig, and that wig was blonde."

Again she looked embarrassed for some reason, don't tell me she actually has a crush on that stupid human pig that most people call Marian Cross. During my few years in training with him, I lost count on how many times I had to give emotional support to husbands that found out their wives slept with my Master.

I, of course, had to tell them, that since I was pretty much left to pay his debts, let's just say all his debts were not always the financial kind. Husbands demanding that I tell them where he is, and wives that wanted to find him to sleep with him a second, third, fourth, I don't know how many times or how many kids he's got spread in the land he travels across.

It was not all bad, the fights with the cheated husbands actually taught me a great deal about hand to hand combat, the wives that cheated on their husband by consequence taught me the importance of fidelity in a relationship.

You would think after all the years that I lived I would learn about that, well with so much time, I forgot somethings and relearn them later in my life. There are three things I will never forget, how to help a woman give birth, how to change a diaper without throwing up, and how to bottle feed a baby. These are things I will never forget because I never asked to learn them in the first place.

"Lenalee I had a tough day, I really want a shower and sleep. So unless you want to tell me something else that will make me hate your brother more than I already do, could we hold this delightful discussion till I managed to get at least five hours of sleep."

She looked at me and asked me why didn't I sleep on the train? Did she even actually travel with Kanda on a train or was it that I was the first to travel with the emo? "Yu Kanda is a very dedicated and focused Exorcist, he is so focused on the mission that Emo seems to be a perfect description for him, but the man snores like a grizzly bear with a head cold. I had better sleep near a lumber mill. So No, I didn't get any sleep."

She looked at me and began to do something I secretly was afraid she would do, acting cutesy and sad, yes she even used the dreaded technique called the puppy eyes. "You know Allen, it's just that I am worried that you had not had your meal, and I thought that you might want to have your meal, and I could listen to your story of what happened on that mission."

I know I am tired, I know that I could say no, that this could wait, but with the way she was looking at me and the way she was sending me contradictory messages with her speech and body language, I knew of one undeniable truth, I just hope I can have some black coffee with that meal, cause this was going to take awhile to explain.

"As long as you eat something yourself, I shall accept and go with you to the mess hall." For some strange reason, she actually looked really happy that I said that and even took hold of my arm and we ended up walking arm in arm towards the mess hall. I sure hope Komui is not looking at us, he would go absolutely nuts if he saw the way we were walking.

After a long walk, I didn't know the mess hall was that far from the entrance. We both walked into the mess hall and I, of course, ordered myself a light dinner, twelve burgers, three pizzas, two pounds of spaghetti, with fifty turkey meatballs, and four cheesecakes, not to mention about half a little of lemonade, they actually ran out of coffee beans.

"The mission was not that difficult Lenalee honest, it was your basic go get a piece of Innocence, kill an Akuma and bring it back, honest it was really not that major of a deal. Dealing with Kanda was more of a pain than having to fight that Akuma truth be told. He seems to forget that we are supposed to be doing to protect humanity, he forgets that the Finders are part of that humanity we were actually supposed to protect."

She took a bite of her salad and nodded her head as she heard me say that, "Yu had a tragic life Allen, he actually care so much, that the pain of actually losing someone he got to know torments him a great deal, so to prevent that he limits those he gets to know. What good would he be if he spent weeks crying in sheer depression after hearing that his friends died?"

I actually never thought about it like that, as for having a tough life, let's face it, compared to the things my family endured for centuries, I could think of a few things that could even compare, but I was not going to tell Lenalee that. I simply was not that cruel.

"Well, there was something you might want to hear." She immediately put down her glass and looked at me with a smile, "We actually fought a rather odd Akuma in that place, it was a level two Akuma, it has the power to mimic the physical appearance of others and even copy their abilities. Like I said dealing with an upgraded Akuma is never pleasant or easy you should really be careful."

She looked at me and began laughing in sort of a cute way, "If I am with you on a mission, I know that I have nothing to fear, I know you would either protect me or even save me."


End file.
